Synthesis, screening, and sequencing of cysteine-rich one-bead one-compound peptide libraries.

Cysteine-rich peptides are valued as tags for biarsenical fluorophores and as environmentally important reagents for binding toxic heavy metals. Due to the inherent difficulties created by cysteine, the power of one-bead one-compound (OBOC) libraries has never been applied to the discovery of short cysteine-rich peptides. We have developed the first method for the synthesis, screening, and sequencing of cysteine-rich OBOC peptide libraries. First, we synthesized a heavily biased cysteine-rich OBOC library, incorporating 50% cysteine at each position (Ac-X8-KM-TentaGel). Then, we developed conditions for cysteine alkylation, cyanogen bromide cleavage, and direct MS/MS sequencing of that library at the single bead level. The sequencing efficiency of this library was comparable to a traditional cysteine-free library. To validate screening of cysteine-rich OBOC libraries, we reacted a library with the biarsenical FlAsH and identified beads bearing the known biarsenical-binding motif (CCXXCC). These results enable OBOC libraries to be used in high-throughput discovery of cysteine-rich peptides for protein tagging, environmental remediation of metal contaminants, or cysteine-rich pharmaceuticals.

Fluorogenic peptide sequences--transformation of short peptides into fluorophores under ambient photooxidative conditions.

Long-lived proteins are susceptible to nonenzymatic chemical reactions and the evolution of fluorescence; however, little is known about the sequence-dependence of fluorogenesis. We synthesized a library of over half a million octapeptides and exposed it to light and air in pH 7.4 buffer to identify fluorogenic peptides that evolve under mild oxidative conditions. The bead-based peptide library was composed of the general sequence H(2)N-Ala-(Xxx)(6)-Ala-resin, where Xxx was one of nine representative amino acids: Asp, Gly, His, Leu, Lys, Pro, Ser, Trp, and Tyr. Next, we selected five highly fluorescent beads from the library and subjected them to microsequencing, revealing the sequence of the unreacted peptide. All five of the fluorogenic sequences were ionic; lacked Tyr, His, and Leu; and most of the sequences contained only one Trp. We then synthesized the five soluble peptides corresponding to the fluorogenic peptide sequences and exposed them to photooxidative conditions. In general, the soluble peptides reacted slowly, generating nonfluorescent monooxygenated and dioxygenated products. However, one peptide (H(2)N-AlaLysProTrpGlyGlyAspAla-CONH(2)) evolved into a highly fluorescent photoproduct as well as a nonfluorescent monooxygenated photoproduct. The fluorescent photoproduct consisted of a 2-carboxy-quinolin-4-yl moiety fused to the N-terminus of GlyGlyAspAla. The formation of this photoproduct requires cleavage of the peptide backbone and a dramatic reorganization of tryptophan. This work demonstrates that sequencing unreacted peptide on beads can reveal sequences with unique nonenzymatic reactivity. The study also confirms that peptide fluorogenesis is dependent on sequence and not merely on the presence of tryptophan. The potential importance of fluorogenic peptide sequences is two-fold. First, fluorogenic sequences that arise through mutation could prove to be hot spots for human aging. Second, fluorogenic sequences, particularly those compatible with intracellular conditions, may serve as fluorescent tags for proteins or as fluorescent biomaterials.